False advice given by ebay agent. What to do?

[hicottn]

March 12th I sold a rare item to a buyer in Hungary:  143553097014

I shipped it USPS and uploaded the tracking info.  About 50 days later the buyer emailed me saying he had not received it.  The USPS website said it was still in transit.  I filed an investigation with USPS.  Their system said it takes on average 38 days for an investigation to be completed.  They buyer was not willing to wait that long and filed a claim with ebay.  I called ebay and the agent said to go ahead and refund the buyer and before the May 27th deadline and then to file an appeal with ebay and that the item is covered by the ebay protection plan.  I called about filing an appeal today, June 5th, and  the agent I spoke to said that nothing could be done because I had refunded the money.    He said that the ebay protection was not an option since I refunded the buyer.  I did everything right and as I was told and now am out $150 for the item and $72.25 for the postage.  I do not expect USPS to refund me or the buyer to pay me if it arrives.  I got bad advice and am being made to pay for it.  Seems just a bit unfair!

[inhawaii]

Sorry this happened to you. 

We've all been given bad/wrong advice by ebay customer service before.   I don't know if it's a mistake, a language barrier, stupidity, or on purpose?

At this point i would continue to argue your case with ebay customer service.  Ask for a supervisor.  ask to "escalate" the case. Do whatever you can. 

I hope it works out for you. 

[guangxi_hone]

@hicottn 

You never know. I'd still ask buyer to pay when item arrives.

I 'd pay.

[myboardid]

Yes, the customer service rep lied to you, but the lie was that you would be able to appeal it and win.  Anytime a buyer makes a complaint of Item Not Received, and the tracking does NOT show the item has been delivered (and it is past the estimated delivery date), the seller is forced to refund the full amount the buyer has paid.  Either the seller refunds voluntarily, as you did, or eBay forces the refund and gives the seller a major defect that can affect his ability to sell.  So the CSR, even though lying, did you a favor by telling you to refund. 

[pinksakura2000]

I had the same exact problem as you. The merchandise will eventually get delivered and USPS won't compensate you in any form since the delay was already expected. Even if you did not refund the buyer yourself, eBay's standard procedure is to refund customer when items are still in transit as soon as it passes eBay's estimated delivery time (or near that time). eBay wouldn't even bother refunding your fees on a cancelled transaction because they told me they found me a legit buyer and I am the one not delivering on time (excuse me, am I the post office???)

Anyways, you won't see your money once you refunded the buyer or when it's been taken out by eBay because your case is now closed and they delete the original listing as if it never existed. Therefore good luck asking the buyer to pay you when there is no transaction and disclosing personal information such as your paypal account info via eBay is a violation of eBay policy and you may risk of getting your own account suspended. 

In any case, when the package is finally delivered, you may consider filing with the following agencies for free. They are easy to use and only ask simple info.

Good luck!

Better Business Bureau
https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/file-a-complaint/get-started

Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)
www.ic3.gov

ArbiClaims Dispute Resolution
http://www.arbiclaims.com/bbb California Department of Consumer Affairs 1625 North Market Blvd., Suite N 112 Sacramento, CA 95834
(800) 952-5210

Contractors State License Board
PO Box 26000 Sacramento, CA
(800) 321-CSLB (2752)

[kensgiftshop]

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@hicottn wrote:

 I got bad advice and am being made to pay for it.  Seems just a bit unfair!

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Even though CS gave some bad advise about the Ebay protection plan, if the item isn't delivered by the estimated delivery date, they can file a INR.

If tracking doesn't show the item was delivered, either way, you would have to refund.

[albany_sellers]

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@hicottn wrote:

March 12th I sold a rare item to a buyer in Hungary:  143553097014

I shipped it USPS and uploaded the tracking info.  About 50 days later the buyer emailed me saying he had not received it.  The USPS website said it was still in transit.  I filed an investigation with USPS.  Their system said it takes on average 38 days for an investigation to be completed.  They buyer was not willing to wait that long and filed a claim with ebay.  I called ebay and the agent said to go ahead and refund the buyer and before the May 27th deadline and then to file an appeal with ebay and that the item is covered by the ebay protection plan.  I called about filing an appeal today, June 5th, and  the agent I spoke to said that nothing could be done because I had refunded the money.    He said that the ebay protection was not an option since I refunded the buyer.  I did everything right and as I was told and now am out $150 for the item and $72.25 for the postage.  I do not expect USPS to refund me or the buyer to pay me if it arrives.  I got bad advice and am being made to pay for it.  Seems just a bit unfair!

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People still believe anything the reps tell them?

Almost every seller who has dealt with the reps can attest to the fact that they just say whatever it takes to make you go away, knowing that if you call back, it's not their problem any longer. I have been lied to again and again, told wrong information, and have had reps make things up to get me off the phone. I have even had reps go through the process of pretending to leave "account notes" while reading them back to me when they were not even leaving any notes in the first place.

People like to trash Comcast for their customer service, but eBay wishes theirs was even half of what Comcast is. It's mind boggling how bad eBay's customer service is.

[fashunu4eeuh]

@pinksakura2000 wrote:

"...Even if you did not refund the buyer yourself, eBay's standard procedure is to refund customer when items are still in transit as soon as it passes eBay's estimated delivery time (or near that time)..."

Right now with shipping delays happening all over the world due to the pandemic, eBay has extended some of the timelines to help sellers. Essentially, if the item is still in transit and showing movement, the seller can ask ebay for an extension of time in an Item Not Received case to allow the item more days to be delivered. If the item is not showing movement, then eBay expects sellers to refund in full. Sellers then have to account for this loss in their business plan, ideally by having a proactive approach covering the occasional shrinkage all sellers experience in the course of doing business. 

"eBay wouldn't even bother refunding your fees on a cancelled transaction because they told me they found me a legit buyer and I am the one not delivering on time (excuse me, am I the post office???)"

If eBay has to step in to refund the buyer, then the seller does not get their Final Value fees credited. This is why it is best to bite the bullet and refund a buyer directly rather than lose your fees (while gaining a defect in addition). In eBay's universe, the seller is held accountable for the actions of the carrier that the seller engages.

"Anyways, you won't see your money once you refunded the buyer or when it's been taken out by eBay because your case is now closed and they delete the original listing as if it never existed. Therefore good luck asking the buyer to pay you when there is no transaction and disclosing personal information such as your paypal account info via eBay is a violation of eBay policy and you may risk of getting your own account suspended. "

Ebay keeps a sold listing for 60-90 days but there is a record of the transaction held indefinitely in your PayPal. A seller can send a PayPal invoice to the buyer to attempt recouping the lost funds once the item shows delivery. Most buyers are honest and will oblige. There is no penalty for sharing contact information with the buyer after the transaction. The penalty is assessed for those trying to share contact info prior to the transaction, not after.

"In any case, when the package is finally delivered, you may consider filing with the following agencies for free. They are easy to use and only ask simple info."

What complaint are they filing? Everything is spelled out in advance in eBay's policy pages and sellers have an obligation to learn the rules which will govern their actions on the platform.

[postingid7659]

Even some of this is wrong. It's become impossible to get an email out of PayPal to send an invoice to a buyer with.

eBay keeps those listings sometimes a very long time now before they vanish. With some third party sites you can find the listing on their site months or years later.

I turned off international sales when this thing got out of hand. I would suggest doing the same.

What is correct is how bad their CSRs are.  I had one tell me I could block 0 FB buy-it-now-bombers with the settings on who can bid on my account, but you cannot do that.  You can only block people with a negative feedback rating and of course since you can't get a neg as a buyer, those accounts have essentially ceased to exist for a good 10 years now.  You can only stop them by requiring immediate payment, which you can't do on items with no shipping.  

[myboardid]

Several things are incorrect in the above post.  You don't need an email from Paypal to get the transaction information.  Just find the buyer's name or userID.  It is in your records.  Also, you CAN require Immediate Payment on any listing.  It has nothing to do with whether you charge for shipping or not. 

[postingid7659]

You CAN NOT require immediate payment if your item does not have shipping. if you want I can try to put one through so I can screencap the error message and post it here.

You cannot invoice someone through paypal - at least not via using the link to a money request - without an email address. Been there, tried that. You don't get an error message, there just is no way to get that buyer's name to come up.

[southern*sweet*tea]

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@postingid7659 wrote:
You CAN NOT require immediate payment if your item does not have shipping. if you want I can try to put one through so I can screencap the error message and post it here.

You cannot invoice someone through paypal - at least not via using the link to a money request - without an email address. Been there, tried that. You don't get an error message, there just is no way to get that buyer's name to come up.

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I can get my buyers' email addresses here:

https://www.paypal.com/listing/customers

I don't know if this will work with a personal account or not.

You can find the link in Paypal, top left>activity>operations>customer list